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In California, a Fevered Rush for Gun Permits

Pete Alexander of Fullerton, Calif., requested a permit to carry a concealed handgun and turned out to be the beginning of a flood.Credit
David Walter Banks for The New York Times

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Pete Alexander celebrated the news that a federal court in California had thrown out this state’s strict requirements for obtaining a concealed-handgun permit — among the toughest in the nation — by calling the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to apply for a permit he had long wanted.

“I’m a gun enthusiast,” said Mr. Alexander, a construction contractor who lives in Fullerton. “Crime is encroaching on our neighborhood, and I don’t feel as safe as I used to. This is adding to the police force.”

Mr. Alexander turned out to be the beginning of a flood. In the two months since the court sided with a group of gun owners and found California’s law on concealed-weapons permits unconstitutional, nearly 4,000 residents in this county of 3.1 million people have applied for one, eight times the number usually logged in a year. While no permit is required to own a gun, California residents must obtain one to carry a concealed weapon outside their home or business.

The surge in Orange County and, to a lesser extent, a handful of other counties stunned law enforcement officials and offered a striking demonstration of the frustration of California gun owners. It also showed the complicated politics of weapon regulation in a state with a large and ever-expanding catalog of gun control legislation.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, one of the most liberal appeals courts in the nation, sets up a potential battle over gun control before the Supreme Court. If the full Ninth Circuit court upholds the panel’s decision — which is hardly a foregone conclusion — the Supreme Court is likely to take the case, to reconcile the conflicting decisions of different circuit courts.

“This case definitely has the potential to go to the Supreme Court,” said Adam Winkler, a professor at the School of Law of the University of California, Los Angeles. “The biggest unanswered questions with the Second Amendment today are whether the right extends outside of the home, and what kind of permitting states and cities can impose. Gun rights advocates have been pushing the Supreme Court to declare that there is a right to carry concealed firearms outside the home.”

The Ninth Circuit panel’s ruling was appealed, and has been stayed. Nonetheless, Orange County has blazed ahead. It has spent $1.6 million to hire 14 additional part-time workers, many working through the weekend, in response to the crush of applications, which has overwhelmed county telephones and office workers. There is now a 30-month wait to schedule the required in-person hearing to obtain a permit.

“We got inundated,” Sandra Hutchens, the Orange County sheriff, said in an interview. “We don’t have a lot of crime here. But there are some people who feel very, very strongly about their right to bear arms.”

Most counties decided to hold back until a final ruling is issued, including neighboring San Diego County, where the case originated. Sheriff Hutchens, who has tangled with gun owners in Orange County over concealed weapons in the past, said she was moving forward because “this is the law of the land.”

California is one of 11 states that require applicants to meet some condition — including, in California, routinely traveling with a large sum of money or jewelry — to get a concealed-weapons permit, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. In the 35 other states that issue concealed-weapons permits, the requirements are far less rigorous.

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Sandra Hutchens, the Orange County sheriff, encouraged applications.Credit
Monica Almeida/The New York Times

“If you’re not a convicted felon, you are going to get a concealed-weapons permit,” said William D. Gore, the sheriff in San Diego County. “That’s not the case in California. That frustrates a lot of people.”

Four states do not require a permit to carry a loaded weapon in public: Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming.

The 2-to-1 decision by the Ninth Circuit court, issued in February, found that California’s law violated the Second Amendment. The state attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, intervened and urged the court to review the panel’s decision, which she called a threat to public safety.

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Martin J. Mayer, the counsel to the California Police Chiefs Association, which also appealed the decision, said, “We all know a proliferation of weapons will increase the potential of them being used, whether you are talking about a domestic violence dispute, a road rage situation or a barroom brawl.”

The response by Orange County, which was once known for its political conservatism, stands in sharp contrast with that of other municipalities. San Diego County also had a spike in applications, with nearly 1,200 in March, compared with 50 in a typical month. But Sheriff Gore, who took office in 2009, said he would wait until the case was resolved.

“This is probably the most contentious issue I’ve dealt with as sheriff,” he said. “I am responsible for regulating guns in San Diego, so I end up in the bull’s-eye.”

The decision by Sheriff Hutchens to encourage applications has drawn criticism from gun control advocates. “I’m flabbergasted,” said Charles Blek, the president of the Orange County chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “I cannot think of a rational reason for her to be taking this position at this time.”

This is the latest chapter in Orange County’s contentious history with concealed-weapons permits. Sheriff Hutchens was appointed in 2008 to replace the last sheriff after he was ousted in a corruption scandal that included rewarding campaign contributors with concealed-weapons permits. Sheriff Hutchens quickly ran into trouble when she said she would review the 1,100 permits issued by her predecessor.

“I took a lot of heat,” she said. “The N.R.A. got really upset with me.”

Shawn Nelson, the chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, said he suspected that “the sheriff herself would tell you she’d like a do-over on that one.”

“She is certainly saying all the right things now,” he added.

The crime rate in Orange County has declined by 20 percent over the past 10 years, but Sheriff Hutchens said that would not be a factor in her consideration of whether to issue permits.

“We’re not going to try to tell them there’s a low crime rate or it’s safe on the streets,” she said. “If they feel that under the current guidelines that they need it for personal safety and they pass the background of moral character, then we are going to issue it to them.”

A version of this article appears in print on April 27, 2014, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: In California, a Fevered Rush for Gun Permits. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe